Cheryl Anderson and her husband, Jim Collier, were watching an episode of “Walker’s Cay Chronicles,” a television fishing series, while sitting in their Texas home. The episode was recorded in the Cape Coral area, a breeding ground teeming with tarpon, redfish and Goliath grouper.
For Anderson and Collier, it sounded like paradise—a great place to settle down and retire while being able to fish and live on “island time.” And for many years, it was exactly that - paradise.
As 20 years passed, however, they were met with stark changes impacting their home, community, and overall environment. They blamed development and felt obligated to take things into their own hands.
As a result, they are battling approximately $2 million in legal fees for fighting a project that they claim would harm the remaining marine ecosystem. Both said they have trouble recognizing what’s left of the Cape, leaving them and some others worried over what tomorrow will bring.
“It was paradise,” Anderson, the president of the Cape Coral Wildlife Trust and a board member of the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, said of the old days. “There were coral fish under our dock. There were angelfish under our dock. There were grouper all over. It’s hard to describe how good it was when you see what it is now. You know, the inshore fishing was great, trout, red fish, everything. Now, you just can’t catch anything.”
Cape Coral was founded in 1957 using advertising techniques promoting a coastal paradise rooted in a quaint “Waterfront Wonderland” with a “Legendary Lazy Living” atmosphere. But some longtime residents said the intrinsic aura and original environment have been fading for years now. They said they fear development will overwhelm the Cape’s original charm.
“The thing that’s so hard to take as a citizen, a longtime citizen and taxpayer, is that the city doesn’t seem to care about the people that live here,” Anderson said. “They only care about the people they can bring here and the development. That is what’s extremely frustrating, the lack of willingness and urgency to protect what we have left. Makes me sick to my stomach.”
It has affected the quality of life for Anderson and Collier so much that they felt the need to take matters into their own hands. In doing so, they ran into a problem— an expensive one.
Anderson said Cape Coral is demanding that she and two other people pay $2 million of the city’s legal fees in the battle over removing the Chiquita Lock.
According to the Calusa Waterkeeper, the proposed removal would add approximately 30,000 pounds of additional nitrogen annually into the ecosystem and, “adversely affect protected wildlife and their critical habitat.”
This is not the first time Cape Coral has encouraged the removal of the lock. The proposed removal is due mainly to congestion around the lock, resulting in numerous complaints from boaters.
The process started on Nov. 7, 2018. But Cape Coral’s Department of Environmental Protection failed to get a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to remove the lock.
The endeavor did not end there.
An administrative law judge issued a recommendation order in June 2024, allowing FDEP to grant the permit.
Local groups—including the Matlacha Civic Association, the Sanibel Captiva Civic Association, the Calusa Waterkeeper and the Three Fishermen, one of whom is Collier—continued to protest the environmental permit allowing removal of the lock.
Then the city said it may pursue restitution for legal fees as a result of the groups’ protest. That’s when the Matlacha Civic Association, the Sanibel Captiva Civic Association, and the Calusa Waterkeeper withdrew from the proceedings.
The Three Fishermen remained, leaving them with legal fees of about $2 million.
Anderson and Collier said the potential loss of more marine and wildlife populations is just the tip of the oyster bar. These are only two of the components that make Cape Coral such a vibrant and picturesque place.
They worry that similar detrimental effects are likely to alter the quality of life in Cape Coral even further, and, in turn, leave an entirely new vibe.
Anderson and Collier are not the only Cape Coral residents noticing stark changes, disappearances, and disconcerting developments within their community.
Like Anderson, Agnes Mozdzonek, a resident of Cape Coral since 1990, enjoyed the atmosphere when she first moved here. She mentioned how it was residential and not crowded.
“It was wonderful because it was a small town,” Mozdzonek said.
Originally from Warsaw, Poland, Mozdzonek is no stranger to large cityscapes, explaining how escaping that became one of the reasons she moved here. Her mother, who already lived in the Cape, also drove her to settle here.
“This is getting too overwhelming,” Mozdzonek said. “It’s just getting too crowded.”
According to the Cape Coral Museum of History, since 1980, Cape Coral grew from roughly 30,000 residents to over 200,000 in 2021.
By 2050 the city’s planning division expects a population of 318,503 residents.
As the city continues to grow, Mozdzonek wants to see green space preserved, as she believes this is one of the hallmarks of Cape Coral and Florida in general.
“To remove trees that existed here for like 50 years, just leave it so people can walk with their dog or themselves,” Mozdzonek said. “Now they have to walk on the street, and that’s not fun.”
Charlotte Taft and Shelley Oram are from the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area. They’ve owned a second home in Cape Coral for nearly 20 years, living in the Cape for four or five months a year.
“We have an investment emotionally in continuing to have beautiful green spaces,” Oram said.
Oram mentioned that these green spaces and natural resources are what initially attracted, and what continues to attract, people to Cape Coral.
Oram and Taft also are seeing commercial developments throughout the city. They said they worry that all the building is redefining the Cape.
“One of the things that shocked us were the giant buildings along Cape Coral Parkway that someone decided shouldn’t look like Cape Coral,” Taft said.
Taft made it a point to mention that she and Oram are not opposed to development. But she said both believe a new priority-based system would ensure a sustainable and recognizable future.
“We’re interested in a balance, and what kind of development enhances the community and people’s lives, and what takes away from it,” Taft said. “We are concerned that the City Council, for example, pay more attention to what draws people to Cape Coral in the first place, and not destroy the very things that make this such a special place.”
Melissa Mickey, the communications manager for the city of Cape Coral, had something similar to say.
“The city adheres to legal requirements that allow for the development of land but, also ensures that any growth aligns with the overall community vision, which includes balancing urban development with environmental preservation,” Mickey said.
Even so, residents like Anderson, Collier, Mozdzonek, Oram and Taft remain unconvinced and hope to see at least some of Cape Coral’s original charm survive into the future.
“The thing I wish for the younger generation is that they could be more proactive,” Anderson said. “We need more young people because they’re the ones that are going to lose all this, and once this is gone, it ain’t coming back.”
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